Gillingham will finish the 2021/22 campaign a week early next season - and it’s all thanks to the Queen.

Gills’ fixtures will be released at 9am next Thursday, with the first game taking place on Saturday, August 7.

But the League 1 programme will finish on April 30, 2022, a week earlier than the Championship and League 2.

That’s because the League 1 Play-off Final is at Wembley a week earlier than usual, on Saturday, May 21.

And that’s all down to the move of the usual Bank Holiday on a Monday at the end of May to the end of the week in order to mark the Queen’s 70th year on the throne.

It will be the first time a British monarch has reached a Platinum Jubilee.

The first week in June has been chosen for the Platinum weekend - with an extra Bank Holiday date added in next year to make it a ‘four-day celebration’ from Thursday, June 2 to Sunday, June 5.

Gills started last season with a 2-0 home defeat at home to Hull, who went on to win promotion to the Championship as League 1 champions. It was the first time in five years that Gillingham began their league campaign with a home match.

New teams in League 1 for 2021/22 are the relegated trio of Wycombe, Rotherham and Sheffield Wednesday while Cheltenham, Cambridge, Bolton and Morecambe were promoted from League 2.

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